


In the Hands of a Ventriloquist

by Eccentric_Erin



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Gen, Manipulation, My First Fanfic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Torture, Violence, ill figure it out, im sorry, it’s gonna get dark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2020-04-12 03:27:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19123624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eccentric_Erin/pseuds/Eccentric_Erin
Summary: It’s just a normal trip with some friends. A giant project is being made, and everyone’s excited! Should be a fun time, right?However, Mark and Jack start to notice some strange things, and things go downhill from there. Ethan notices something is wrong, and gets weirdly freaked out and isolated.Sorry, I’m crap at summaries. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfic, so let me know what you all think! I could use some advice. I hope you enjoy, and tell me if you want this to continue. This is inspired by Haunted_Moonlight’s Devil’s Deal series and Skye_Willows’ Dreamscape Saga! Go read them! I guarantee they’re better than this XD

* * *

It had started as just a headache.

That’s all it was. Just a faint pulsing in the back of his head.

At first, he didn’t think much of it. Headaches happen now and again. This was nothing out of the ordinary.

However, this headache didn’t go away. It stayed for days, and had gradually gotten more intense. By the third day, he had begun to think that this was a little weird. But he didn’t do anything. He had to keep working. It’s what he loves doing, and he didn’t want to let his fans down over some pain in his head. He had gotten through worse. This was nothing.

The pressure continued to build. The pain got more intense.

Mark groaned and moved his fingers up under his glasses to rub his eyes tiredly. He was sorting through footage in order to prepare for a trip to the UK with some YouTube friends. It was a big project that Mark was really excited about, but he would be gone for a long time. This required a lot of videos to release for the days he would be unable to film. He was scheduled to be gone for four weeks for filming, whilst also allowing some time for them to hang out and do whatever together. He was under a lot of stress, and the headache was not helping. He had Lixian as his editor to help ease the workload, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a lot to do.

Mark leaned back in his chair and sighed. It was just a lot. He loved his job, almost every second of it, but it could sometimes get stressful. He was very hard on himself, and he wanted his videos to get better and better. He tried to keep himself in a healthy mindset, and the massive amounts of support and reassurance from his audience helped a lot. But sometimes, it’s difficult to not judge himself and wish he was better.

A soft knock on Mark’s door snapped him out of his thoughts. The door opened a crack, and Amy was visible through the gap. She smiled softly.

“Hey,” she said quietly, entering the office. “Are you doing alright?”

Mark gave a tired smile of his own. “Yeah.” He sighed. “The headache is just being a bitch.”

Amy gave a look of sympathy. “Still bothering ya?”

Mark nodded.

“Why don’t you come to bed soon,” Amy suggested. “It would be good for you to get some rest.” At Mark’s anxious glance towards his computer, she added, “You can work on this in the morning. You have plenty of time.” She rubbed his shoulder affectionately. “Come on Mark. Let’s go.”

Mark sighed in defeat. “Alright,” he said. “Just give me a minute.”

Amy smiled warmly, giving Mark one last affectionate rub before exiting the room, and softly shutting the door behind her.

Mark stared at the door for a moment or two after watching her leave before turning back to his computer. He clipped just a little more footage on one of his videos and saved his progress. He glanced at the time.

_11:43_

Mark frowned. It was already that late? He was usually good about making sure he got to bed by 10:30. He really was overworking himself. He was glad Amy had come up there to make sure he got some sleep. He sat back and stretched, and he finally shut his computer down.

Mark stood up and pushed his chair in. He yawned while moving to turn off the light. As he was reaching towards the switch, he thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He spun around quickly to follow the movement-

But there was nothing. Just his normal office. He peered into the shadows before shaking his head and muttering, “Amy’s right. I really should get to bed. I’m starting to see things,” as he flipped the switch.

A creeping paranoia built up within him as Mark moved to exit the office. He felt extremely uneasy, with no real reason as to why. He glanced back into the room, with the agitating feeling growing stronger. He could have sworn he saw more movement in the darkness. He shook his head and blinked a couple of times, assuming he was just tired. As Mark closed the door behind him, the tightness in his head increased, as well as the pain. He grabbed his head, and moved toward the bedroom to meet up with Amy.

Mark furrowed his eyebrows and frowned as the creeping paranoia continued to slither it’s way up his spine. He looked behind him once again, and sped up his pace a little to get away from the office faster. He didn’t know why he felt this way. He just knew he wanted to get as far away from the office as possible as quickly as possible. As the distance between him and his work-place increased, the more-intense pain had begun to ease.

Mark entered the bedroom, and at this point, the anxious feeling had mostly gone. Instinctively, he looked over at Amy to make sure she was okay. She looked up from her phone as his presence was announced, and smiled. Mark smiled in response, then made his way towards the bathroom to get ready for bed. He closes the door behind him and set his hands on the counter. His face scrunched up in confusion.

_“Well, that was weird,”_ he thought. _“I hope there wasn’t some creep peering through the window._ ”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes at his own thoughts. At this point, he was starting to wish he had gone to bed sooner. At least Amy made sure he didn’t get to bed too late. He was really lucky to have her. He smiled at the thought of his girlfriend and began to do his nightly routine.

As the YouTuber fell asleep for the night, he didn’t notice the room getting unnaturally dark, nor did he notice the low chuckle that softly reverberated around the room.

He didn’t notice a deep and unnatural voice softly break the silence.

_Rest while you can. The show will begin soon, and you, my friend, are the star. Tick tock._

**We don’t want to keep our audience waiting.**


	2. Chapter 2

The morning was relatively uneventful.

Mark woke up, ate breakfast, took some pain medication, and hurried to his computer to do some last-minute preparations. He made sure everything was in order for Lixian, then checked his watch. _12:23_. Mark grabbed his pre-packed bags, (he had packed the day before. Ha! He’s so smart!) and hopped into the car to allow Amy to drive him to the airport. She wasn’t coming with, which was disappointing, but she would be looking after the dogs and spending time with some friends as a little break.

The plan was to pick up Ethan and Tyler, then head to the airport. Tyler was spending the night at Ethan’s house so they wouldn’t have to make two stops.

The car pulled into the driveway of Ethan’s place, and Mark walked up to the front door while Amy waited in the car. Mark knocked three times, then the door opened to Tyler’s smiling face.

“Hey, buddy!” Tyler pulled Mark into a hug.

“Hey man, how are you?” “I’m doing well, how are you?”

“Good, thanks.” There was a pause. “Where’s Ethan?”

“Coming!” A voice shouted from further in the house.

Ethan rounded the corner, struggling a bit with his bags. Mark opened his mouth to say hi, but then he got a good look at Ethan’s face.

The young man looked _horrible_. There were dark circles under his eyes, he was incredibly pale, and- this was sort of hard to explain- but it looked like there was less life to him. His eyes seemed duller, and there was something- just- off about him.

“Holy shit dude,” Mark breathed. “You look _awful_. Are you okay?”

Ethan chuckled softly. “Tyler said the same thing yesterday. I’ve just been staying up really late trying to pre-record videos. I lose track of time easily…”

“Jesus man, you’re worse than me. It looks like you haven’t slept in ten years!”

Ethan laughed again. “Yeah? It feels like I haven’t.”

Mark eyed him up and down. “Are you sure you’re alright? Like no offense man, but you look like a walking corpse.”

“I’m fine, I promise. I’ll make sure to rest on the plane. Are we ready to go?”

“Uh, yeah, if you guys have everything packed.”

“We sure do,” Tyler said. “C’mon Mark, we’re not that incompetent.”

Mark shook his head. “Yeah, you are. Let’s go!” He shouted that last part before Tyler could retaliate.

They took the luggage out to the car. Ethan insisted that he didn’t need help, but Mark grabbed one of his bags anyway, earning him an eye-roll from the younger man.

Mark sat on the passenger side, Tyler behind Amy, and Ethan behind Mark. Amy twisted around in her seat to say hello to the new passengers.

“Hey, guys! Holy shit Ethan, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.” Ethan smiled at her.

Amy frowned. “Okay, if you’re sure.” There was a small pause. “Is everyone buckled?”

After getting some sort of confirmation from everyone, Amy pulled out of the driveway to head towards the airport.

~•~

They arrived at the airport, Amy pulling up by the curb to drop the boys off. Ethan and Tyler hopped out, giving Mark and Amy a moment alone. Before Amy could say anything, Mark pulled her into a tight hug.

“I’m gonna miss you,” Mark whispered.

“I’ll miss you too,” Amy replied, giving him a kiss. They held each other for a little while before Amy gave Mark a quick shove. “Now go, you’re gonna miss your flight!”

Mark let out an over-exaggerated groan. Amy rolled her eyes.

“Mark, you’ve gotta go!” She laughed.

“Fineeeeee.”

He gave her one last kiss before getting out of the car.

“Goodbye, I love you!” Mark called out.

“I love you too! Have fun!” She waved out the window, awkwardly leaning over the passenger seat to stick her hand out of the car. “Bye Tyler! Bye Ethan!”

Mark laughed at how ridiculous she looked, and waved back as Tyler and Ethan shouted their goodbyes. Tyler and Ethan had already grabbed their own bags, as well as Mark’s out of the trunk. The three of them waved one last time, then turned around and headed into the airport together.

~•~

Mark, Tyler, and Ethan boarded the plane at about 7:30 pm. Dang, they really didn’t need to get to the airport that early, did they? Mark was probably just antsy and anxious, but he was still sort of upset. He wished he could have spent more time with Amy.

Oh well, there was nothing he could do about it now, sadly.

Mark and the gang marched down the aisle, searching for their row. They were in a three-seat row on the right side of the plane, so they wouldn’t have to sit with a stranger in the middle aisle, which was a bonus.

When walking down through the plane, Mark yelled up to his friends, “I call middle seat!”

Tyler groaned and Ethan laughed. They walked a little longer before Tyler stopped in front of the other two.

“Alright, here we are! Our nice comfy home for the next twelve hours!”

The three of them stored their carry-ons before getting ready to sit down. Tyler was about to walk in first to sit at the window seat when Ethan put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

“Hey, I was wondering if I could sit at the window? I’m probably going to be sleeping a lot, and I figured you guys would like to talk?”

Mark and Tyler glanced at each other before Tyler shrugged.

“Sure, if you’d like. I don’t see an issue with it.”

Ethan smiled gratefully, before passing by Tyler to sit at the window. Tyler and Mark sat down next to him.

Mark put his hand up to Tyler’s ear and whispered loudly, “He just doesn’t want to be stuck in the middle seat because he’s too much of a pussy.”

“Hey! I am not! I was just trying to be kind,” Ethan retaliated.

Tyler shook his head and whispered back, “He’s definitely a pussy.”

“The biggest pussy I’ve ever seen.”

“He can’t even handle sitting in the middle seat!”

Tyler and Mark laughed while Ethan rolled his eyes and looked out the window. “You guys are assholes,” he muttered.

“Aww c’mon, you know we love you,” Tyler said with a smile, while Mark blew him an over-exaggerated kiss.

Ethan just smiled and shook his head. “Yeah, I know.”

~•~

The plane had been in the air for about an hour now. Ethan quietly stared out the window, listening to music. Tyler and Mark had chatted for a bit, then Tyler took out a book as their conversation died out.

Mark tried his best to get comfortable. He knew it would be a long flight, he just hoped his head wouldn’t hurt him too much. He had to admit, he was super excited. This project has been in the works for over a year now. It was going to be so much fun hanging out with friends he hadn’t seen in ages. He couldn’t wait!

Not too long after he and Tyler finished talking, Mark had begun to feel drowsy, the exhaustion from working so hard the past few days finally catching up to him. He put in some earbuds and leaned back, letting the peaceful abyss of sleep take over him.

~•~

It was about midnight when Mark awoke. He’d fallen asleep on a plane, which was a miracle. Flights are very difficult to sleep on! He glanced around him, casually observing people listening to music, watching a movie, reading, and sleeping. Ethan was staring intently at some random film he found, and Tyler was asleep. It was very quiet, and the lights were dim. It was quite peaceful. Mark closed his eyes, getting ready to sleep some more when-

 _Shit_.

He had to pee.

Mark leaned his head back and groaned in his head. He really wanted to sleep, but he really had to go. It’s a classic dilemma.

He checked the time on his phone.

_11:51_

He’d have plenty of time to sleep for the rest of the flight.

Giving in to the need to pee, Mark unfastened his seatbelt. Thankfully, he had claimed the aisle seat, so there was no climbing awkwardly over his friends, though he doubted they would mind.

Mark stood up, stretching a bit before shuffling into the aisle. He walked a few steps when he felt a weird sensation on his back, almost like someone was watching him.

He turned around, and he could’ve sworn he saw Ethan’s head quickly move down towards his screen. Was it just him or did Ethan look slightly worried?

Mark shook it off as something caused by his deliriousness and continued venturing towards the restroom.

There was no one in the bathroom when he arrived, which was a relief. He locked himself in and began to, umm… _do his business_. He was in the middle of _that_ when he felt a sudden pang in his head. It felt as if someone just stabbed his brain. It startled him so much he nearly fell over. He reached out a hand to steady himself against the wall, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut in pain.

 _Of all the times_ , Mark thought to himself.

He bit his lip to keep himself from groaning out loud. Damn, it hurt. Really badly.

He forced himself to finish peeing as quickly as possible before zipping up his trousers- just in the nick of time too. The pain was so intense his vision was whiting out. He slowly lowered himself down to the floor, clumsily grabbing onto the sink to steady himself. It was getting hard to think. There was a constant ringing in his ears. It grew louder, _louder, LOUDER_ -

Mark covered his ears and shut his eyes tighter, begging for someone- anyone to just end this pain.

He was getting dizzy.

He breathed heavily, trying to regain his ability to come up with a single coherent thought.

The red he could see because of the light through his eyelids slowly grew darker.

He put one of his hands on the floor, suddenly becoming very unstable. He couldn’t keep his head upright. He felt himself falling forward.

He heard a low chuckle before everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey... I'm alive!  
> Sorry that this took me so long. School started, then the musical happened, then I'm pretty sure I forgot how to function properly, and blah blah blah more excuses.  
> I actually almost posted this chapter almost a month ago, but it was only 600 words, and I wasn't happy with that. I like to have every chapter be at the very least 1000 words long. Also, this chapter originally didn't have Tyler or Ethan in it, because I'm dumb and didn't think logically.  
> I swear that the next chapter won't take me so long. I have some really exciting ideas, and I truly can't wait to write more. If I take forever, spam my comments so I will get my crap together. I'm going to try to post AT LEAST one chapter a month.  
> Any feedback is very appreciated :)))  
> Anyway, thank you all for the support. It means so much to me. <3


	3. Chapter 3

Tyler awoke at around 12:45, and the first thing he noticed was that Mark’s seat was vacant. He looked to his left and noticed Ethan had his earbuds in and was staring at his phone. The poor guy still looked worse for wear. Tyler tapped Ethan on the shoulder. He took an earbud out and looked at him.

“Yeah?”

“Did you see where Mark went?” Tyler asked.

Ethan blinked. “Oh! Yeah, he went to the bathroom, I think. He left a couple minutes ago.”

“Oh okay, thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Ethan immediately put his earbud back in and stared at his phone, seemingly avoiding looking at Tyler. Tyler narrowed his eyes. He placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Ethan,” he said softly.

Ethan looked back at him. He seemed to have a scared expression on his face. Almost like he had said or done something he shouldn’t have, similar to a puppy who got caught peeing on the carpet or chewing a shoe.

Tyler looked him up and down. “Are you okay?” He asked sincerely. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you look really awful. Has something been going on?”

Ethan looked down. “I’m okay. Some- stuff has been happening recently. But there’s nothing you can do. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

Ethan smiled up at him, but it seemed weak, pained even.

Tyler didn’t buy it. His eyes were filled with worry, but he didn't want to push his friend. “Okay. You know you can talk to us about anything, right?”

Ethan looked away again. “I know,” he said quietly. He paused for a moment. “Tyler?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you, really. It means a lot.”

Tyler smiled. “Of course.”

~•~

_He was running. As fast as he could. He had to get away from there. There was only one thing going through his head._

_‘Run, don’t look back, just run, run, **RUN**!’ _

_He could barely register his surroundings. Panic engulfed his thoughts, blocking everything else out._

_He was out of breath. His legs were sore. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep going. Just when he thought he was about to collapse from exhaustion, he saw a bright light ahead, contrasting the surrounding darkness._

_He pushed himself to go faster, sprinting at that glow with a new hope filling his chest._

_As he got closer, he noticed the silhouette of a person standing in the blinding radiance, blocking the light._

_He stopped right before it, catching his breath. He was doubled over with his hands on his knees, looking up at the figure. He was about to say something when it turned around._

_What he saw was not a normal face._

_It was something utterly creepy._

_The eyes of the creature were pitch black and empty, carrying no emotion. There were dark grey tear streaks on its face, weirdly prominent, even with the creature being cast in a shadow. It was ghostly pale. There’s no way it should even be alive. There was a dark matter spilling from its scalp, dripping down its forehead; the same substance seeming to drip out of its ears. It was covering the creature’s pale clothing and hands. It almost looked like blood, but darker._

_But that wasn’t even the strangest thing._

_The strangest things were the alien veins on the creature. They were popping out and glowing. It was a bright, electric blue, illuminating its face. They seemed to pulse and send electrical currents throughout the creature’s body. There was a prominent one on its forehead, a multitude of them were creeping up its neck and under its jaw, and tiny ones were on its hands and fingertips. They seemed to be covering its whole body._

_He looked back up at its face. The soulless eyes seemed to be staring right through him, making him feel unnerved. It raised its hand, pointing at him, causing the glowing veins to better illuminate its face. His eyes widened. He recognized that face._

_“...Ethan?”_

~•~

Mark’s eyes snapped open and he gasped for breath.

_Holy shit._

That was one of the strangest dreams he had ever had.

The actual happenings of the dream weren’t what freaked him out, however. It was the _emotion_. It was so intense; so realistic. His veins were pumping with adrenaline, his legs still felt a little sore, and he was still _afraid_. The fear had been so prominent. It was crawling up his spine, swallowing him whole.

Mark was still breathing heavily. He slowly pushed himself off the ground, his head still aching. He shimmied his way up the wall, not trusting his legs to support him. He reached for the sink to stable himself, and fully stood up, glancing at himself in the mirror.

Damn.

He looked even more tired than before. He looked almost as bad as-

That train of thought came to a halt as he saw blood start to drip from his nose, flowing at a steady rate.

“Shit,” he muttered.

Mark reached for some toilet paper and stuffed it up his nose to hopefully ease the bleeding. It had already dripped onto the counter some, so he carefully wiped it off with some wet toilet paper. Mark closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was so exhausted.

_How long had he been unconscious?_

Mark reached for his phone from his pocket and looked at the time.

_12:56._

“Shit!”

He’d been in the bathroom for over an _hour_. How was he going to explain this to Tyler and Ethan? Especially Ethan? He had seen him walk to the bathroom, he had to have questions. And Mark didn’t even know why he passed out! He groaned. This whole thing was just bizarre.

Mark hurriedly stuffed some toilet paper in his pocket in case his nose bled some more. He stole a quick look at his reflection and sighed knowing he was as presentable as he would ever be in this situation, before unlocking the door and leaving the bathroom.

He kept his head down, trying to avoid looking at people as much as possible. _God_ , this was embarrassing. Mark walked briskly until he finally reached his seat. He collapsed into the chair and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

“Woah, buddy! You okay?”

Mark opened his eyes to Tyler’s voice. “Yeah, sorry. I don’t know what happened, I-”

“Calm down, it’s alright,” Tyler laughed, cutting off Mark’s rambling. “You gotta go when you gotta go. Plane poops are rough though.”

Mark furrowed his brows. Did he seriously think Mark pooped for an entire hour?

“Are you alright Mark?” Tyler gestured to Mark’s bloody nose. “Did you get in a fight in the bathroom? Because that’s pretty metal. We might have to call the police though...”

Mark blinked at him, too preoccupied in his swirling thoughts to laugh at his friend’s joke. “I- do you really think I take that long to poop?”

Tyler gave him a weird look. “I mean, you were only gone for like fifteen minutes. I take that long to poop. At least I think you were gone for that long. I don’t know, I wasn’t awake, but Ethan said you hadn’t left long before I woke up. Hey, Ethan!”

Tyler tapped the addressed man on the shoulder. He took out an earbud and looked at Tyler.

“How long does it take for you to poop?”

Ethan laughed. “I- what?”

“Apparently Mark thinks fifteen minutes is a long time to poop. How long do you take? Have I been doing something wrong my whole life??”

Tyler was joking around, clearly not noticing anything off. Meanwhile, Mark and Ethan locked eyes. Mark threw a questioning expression at the smaller man. Ethan had a pained, almost sorrowful expression on his face. Before Mark could question him, Ethan broke the eye-contact and answered Tyler’s question, sparking up a light-hearted conversation with him.

Mark felt his head pound again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back!  
> Sorry that this took me so long again. But shout-out to the reader who called me out for not posting, even though we're under quarantine. That comment really got my ass in gear. XD  
> Thank you guys for the support! Your guys' comments keep me motivated!   
> I appreciate any feedback <3  
> Stay safe, and wash your hands! Until next time.


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